I can’t tell you how brilliant the correspondents of this site are. The other night “LRV” summed up the forthcoming Arsenal/Evil Empire game from this saturday with a perfect quote from Yeats: “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” How good is that?
And would you know it, while we were discussing the appalling nature of Birmingham City and their vile attack on Eduardo, and the disgraceful defence of this action by the Birmingham City management, not to mention the terrifying beauty of Yeats poetry, the FA were announcing that Karen Brady, who at the time of the criminal assault of Eduardo was MD of the Evil Empire, is to be made a director of the England World Cup bid.
Birmingham City must surely represent the ultimate depth of football in England. And now we learn that not satisfied with being eternally known as the club that assaulted Eduardo, we also find they have joined Leeds and Notts C as being a club with an unknown owner.
I remember the last time they “played” (I use the word lightly) at the Ems, we watched their “manager” waving at players to go down and stay down to break up play and get the game stopped. So daft (or so corrupt) was the ref that he fell for it every time.
Then we had those arrests of Birmingham City directors, one after another after another, for financial and other matters. No charges of course. Just arrests.
Now the Evil Empire has a new owner – although we have no idea who he is or where he resides. The front man (Yeung) who only owns around 12% has given £40m to make the empire grow and grow by endlessly exporting its evil. Where he got the money, we don’t know.
The FA has done nothing – just as they have done nothing to force Notts County or Leeds U into revealing ownership. Just as they have done nothing about Ken Bates stating that when he said he owned Leeds it was “a mistake”. The contempt with which the FA treats Eduardo, Arsenal and all football fans is there for all to see.
It is of course not just the sheer horror of the tackle that crippled Eduardo, nor the way that the Birmingham City club tossed aside any responsibility, it was also the way that immediately the three match ban was over they brought the offending player back into their reserve team.
I have heard Birmingham City supporters say, “what else did you expect us to do?” The answer clearly is “show some morality”. Paul Davis was suspended for 9 matches for a punch thrown in a football match. The player he hit was back playing long before he was.
Even though the bent and corrupt FA and EPL would take no action, Birmingham, had the club had a single ounce of decency, it would have “rested” the player for a longer period.
As it was the most disgraceful team in the EPL, fell from their midtable position under the Curse of Arsenal, and were relegated. The directors were charged with an ever increasing number of offences. But then none of these matters were ever brought to trial, and charges were dropped, and Brady was invited onto the London World Cup bid committee.
Seemingly, it is now possible to buy the Evil Empire without anyone knowing who you are, while David Sullivan and David Gold and Karen Brady, the group who made the Evil Empire, have gone.
“I crave blood, I eat flesh, I am Anarchy personified. I am the Devil, I am Evil, I am the Destroyer of Souls,” said the spokesbeing for new owner. “We need new players for this club to devour, to turn into monsters, to embody the entire and total spirit of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.” Actually I may have lost something in translation from the Chinese, but you know what I mean.
The Guardian said, “McLeish has been dogged by many injury problems with his squad since taking Birmingham back into the Prem League, but has been adept at destroying the career of others through their disgraceful tactics.” (Again I may have got a part of this slightly wrong.)
“I will be eating the manager,” Yeung said (ditto about translation). “Our aim is to kill, destroy, maim and secure our position in the Premier League, not only for this year but for many years to come.” (possible error caused by Google auto translation programming).
“Birmingham can become as big as possible. We are competitors for Aston Villa,” (that’s the club that invented the “Hold Your Head” technique for players who are tackled. You go down, see if the opposition are attacking, and if so hold your head. The ref stops the game, and then you go off and have treatment for an ankle injury”). ” We can eat and devour and spit out the entire world. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” (Actually that last bit was some poet fella.)
Yeung also said: “I will be here three or four times a month and I will try and kill every living creature. The EPL is soft – in no other league in the world can you walk in without revealing who owns the club. I am here to laugh at you all.” (Actually I am sure he didn’t say that. I must get this computer fixed).
Anyway, it is Arsenal vs The Evil Empire at the Ems on saturday. And as the Saxons used to say when fighting the Danes under the leadership of the good, pious, refined and revered not to say godly King Alfred the Great, “Kill them all.”
Next week: West Iceland United vs Arsenal in the style of William Wordsworth
Meanwhile, back on planet earth…
100 years ago we played Sunderland. For details of that game (which involved very little slaughter) take a look at MAKING THE ARSENAL. www.blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk The book will be out in a another couple of weeks. Birmingham City and the heart of all evil do not figure in it.
(c) Tony Attwood 2009
Nice post as usual Tony.
Their original name of Small Heath was more appealing and yet when you put a former co-owner described as a “pornography entrepreneur” and another with a chain of Ann summers sex shops, what do you actually expect in way of football knowledge.
pity Eduardo will be missing, but a resounding defeat for Small Heath would at the least be some sort of justice.
Walter, I am also in the over 60 + supporters association.
I have been looking forward to this game for a fortnight, I am too scared to go now !!
Well Tony, our football world is being turned upside down by an FA whose world is inside out as a result of which their true colours cannot be seen. But we at the Arsenal must take the advice of Rudyard Kipling who says,
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise
………………………………………..
…meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:”
All I want from our boys is to please give Birmingham ‘Shity’ a very good hiding (a la Blackburn) as a present to Eduardo and us fans who endured the evil spectacle of the leg break.
The simple fact is that the FA cannot start to run football properly (and ensure that football clubs are also run properly). If they were to start now the number of clubs that would fall foul of the sudden impact of rules that should have been in place for decades would wipe out so many of the professional teams in England that the majority of the football supporting population (quite a hefty percentage of the overall population I would guess) would scream for blood. We are unfortunately suck in a position where the lunatics are allowed to run the asylum because they outnumber the sane by such a large margin that it has become self perpetuating. At some point I hope that something will happen that will persuade the majority of supporters that the existance of their club 5, 10 or even 50 years from now is more important than instant, unsustainable success. I just can’t figure out what that something will be.